


All The Cats In Their Bags

by calerine



Category: Nowhere Boys (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Gen, hangovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 02:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2564132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calerine/pseuds/calerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a dude in 205 who Andy's certain is keeping some kind of animal, despite all the NO PETS signs Andy’s placed pointedly around the level, in a desperate bid to get the message across.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All The Cats In Their Bags

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trisarahtops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trisarahtops/gifts).



> For Sarah. Again, un-betaed. All mistakes are mine, Cherry Ripes or not. I've also taken liberties with the residential system, because they don't work like that in Australia. 
> 
> TW: hangovers, drug mention

There’s a dude in 205 who Andy's certain is keeping some kind of animal, despite all the **_NO PETS_** signs Andy’s placed pointedly around the level, in a desperate bid to get the message across.

Andy’s seen him a few times, brisk walking - almost sprinting - out of the complex with his hands hidden in his shirt. His roommate behaves just as shiftily whenever he finds Andy in the mail room. He's taken to averting his eyes and scurrying out of there in quick time. Sometimes he even forgets his mail so Andy has to take it to him, defeating any and all purposes of supposed avoidance.

It keeps Andy up so many nights, the curiosity burning a massive hole in his insides. He’s not even sure he really cares if they have a pet anymore; he just needs to know _what it is._

The semester is almost over when it happens.

By then, Andy’s long lost track of proper protocol. After all, Mia in 212 has been trying to bribe him with snacks constantly for two months, to persuade him not to tell anyone that her girlfriend has moved in. At this point, she has given him at least two drawerfuls of Cherry Ripes, and Andy doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he really hates them. They taste like baby toys and death, like cherries on acid. 

If Mia or Ellen had tried talking to him about their living arrangements at all (instead of filling the space under his door with squished Cherry Ripes), they’d have known that it’s just the _sex noises_ that Andy has to handle. Mia’s roommate's filed two official complaints thus far, but there is _simply_ no extra bed to move her to.

So it happens.

Just as Andy is ready to concede that maybe being anyone’s RA is not part of his skill set, he finds Jake Riles locked out of his room on a quiet Monday morning, while everyone else is probably either hung over or finally buckling down to get started on assignments.

The sight makes him stop short as he rounds a corner. Jake's hunkered down on the ground with his head in his hands and his back to his door, despondency in the heavy set of his shoulders. The hallway smells vaguely of vomit, but Andy can’t be certain if it’s just the delightful scent of uni dorms on Monday mornings or specifically one Jake Riles.

“Locked out?” Andy asks, trying his best not to be creepy. It wouldn’t help if he started sniffing the air… right?

Jake lifts his head, blinking in surprise. Andy watches his eyes refocus slowly, distracted strangely by the way his fringe sticks upwards awkwardly.

“Yeah, I forgot Sam had a game today, thought he’d be back all day or at least right now.” He’s gone almost cross-eyed in the light of the florescent bulbs, picking absently at a scab on his ankle, and Andy’s been at uni long enough to know the symptoms of Last Week stress anywhere. Only, he's not sure if he is past potentially babysitting hungover and burnt-out second year kids.

“You don’t look too good,” Andy starts as Jake drops his head to his chest.

Jake narrows his eyes. “Speak for yourself,” he spits out. This is the first time Andy is having a conversation with Jake Riles since O-Week and he suddenly, really doesn’t want to.

But then Jake’s face crumbles a second later. “Sorry, I – sorry. Had a long weekend.”

Andy exhales noisily, the air whistles past his teeth. He puts his arms on his hips for a moment before he’s made up his mind. The puke-smell is definitely wafting from Jake’s clothes.

“Alright,” he says and Jake looks lost, like he’s missed a part of a conversation even though he listened really hard. “Here’s what we’re going to do: I’m going to get your door open and you’re going to have a warm shower and take a nap.”

Panic flashes across Jake’s face and Andy’s already rolling his eyes. “I know you’ve got a pet in the room and I know it’s technically not allowed. But look, it’s Week 14 and you look terrible. So, you know. Whatever, okay?”  

That’s how he ends up in 205 with a handful of Cherry Ripes and Jake’s puppy trying to burrow under his left knee. Jake looks much less like death after Andy insisted on a shower and made him get into bed.

“She’s pretty great isn’t she,” Jake comments. His eyes are sliding close, and Andy is seized with a sudden urge to crawl under the covers with him. It’s thoroughly uncharacteristic. “Also those taste like crap, you know that right?”

Andy makes an offended noise, a half-scoff, half-sigh. “I was hoping you’d like them. I’ve got two drawers full of these things; the girl in 212 has been givingthem to me since April and I really –- they taste like crap.”

“Is that like a romantic thing or a sex thing or - I don’t understand how that works.” Jake’s sunk deeper into his bed, but his eyes are crinkling at the corners. He's got pretty eyes. 

Andy makes a frustrated noise, holding out a finger for the puppy to chew on. “Her girlfriend moved into the room and I suppose it’s meant to be a bribe. But - they’ve been avoiding any kind of communication with me so I can’t _actually_ do anything to help -- you know. I wouldn’t have taken any action if you guys had just told me what was up. What is it about communication that college kids don’t understand. Like if you’d told me about your puppy here, we could have worked something out right. Rather than you sneaking about.”

“You make yourself sound sixty years old,” Jake mumbles. He’s closed his eyes, leaving one hand next to Andy’s knee and Andy wants so badly to close the gap between them. He swallows, curls his fists into his body. 

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m a sixty year old man just trying to do good in this world. Kind of an an older version of Batman. Mm, definitely an older version of Batman.”

“Okay,” Jake murmurs, a barely-there sound. “If you say so.”

So maybe Andy has two assignments due tomorrow. And maybe he’ll smuggle the puppy into his room later, just to make sure she doesn’t accidentally wake Jake up.

But right now, he's pretty comfortable in the dim sunlight filtering through Jake’s curtains and listening to the inhale-exhale of his slumber, in knowledge that the end of the semester is in sight.

 


End file.
